Bears Ears Country

In late 2016, President Barack Obama designated 1.35 million acres of land in San Juan County, Utah as Bears Ears National Monument. On December 4, 2017 President Donald Trump chose to shrink the monument by 85 percent. Rich in human history and unsurpassed in natural beauty, Bears Ears is at the heart of a national debate over the future of public lands.

In a pair of complementary books, writer Rebecca Robinson and photographer Stephen Strom capture the passions of those on opposing sides of the Bears Ears battle. Native American tribes seek to protect culturally and spiritually significant ancestral lands; a coalition of conservation-minded citizens and organizations have supported them. Those who oppose the monument see a "federal land grab" that threatens to rob local people of an economic future by limiting income from ranching and mining. What unites these individuals is a reverence for a homeland that defines their cultural and spiritual identity. Therein lies hope for finding common ground.

The story of Bears Ears speaks to the cultural cross-currents that roil our times: the struggle to maintain tradition and culture in the face of a rapidly changing world, the lines we draw to define and defend what is ours, the ties that bind us together, and the fear that threatens to tear us apart. It is a story of the pain of past injustices, and the efforts to heal age-old wounds to create a shared future.

Below you will find information about the two books along with a blog which provides updates on issues related to Bears Ears.

The above are a sampling of the more than 70 individuals whose voices inform the discussion in Bears Ears Country.

The Books:

by author Rebecca Robinson and photographer Stephen Strom give voice to those who have historically felt silenced, ignored, or disrespected. They share stories of those who celebrate a growing movement by indigenous peoples to protect ancestral lands and culture and those who speak devotedly about their pioneer heritage and the deeply held religious beliefs that connect them to the land.

Interwoven with these stories are images that reveal the rugged beauty of Bears Ears country: a landscape of endless ridges, buttes, mesas and canyons, sculpted and painted by water and wind. Together, the voices and the photographs tell a remarkable story of the connection between individuals and cultures and the land which is inseparable from their experience of life itself.

An accompanying book, Bears Ears: Views from a Sacred Land, adds to the photographic exploration of Bears Ears National Monument with subtle and nuanced examination of the landscape from expansive aerial images to textural studies of sandstone surfaces.

It is nearly impossible to capture the nuances in a deeply complex story from a sampling of necessarily brief news clips. This blog aims to provide interested readers with a carefully curated go-to place for Bears Ears background information, the best news coverage, and the context for interpreting an ever-evolving story.

Following the brouhaha over President Trump’s rescinding Bears Ears and replacing it with two much smaller designations, lawmakers on the House Natural Resources Committee are seeking to use their power to create new monuments through the legislative process - a method much preferred by many Republicans who view monuments established by a presidential proclamation as "federal/executive overreach."

When you've covered a story or beat long enough, every new development becomes interwoven with the past months or years' coverage. A familiar cast of characters reprises their roles; key themes emerge and recur.

And so it was with the recent House Natural Resources Committee hearings on HR 4532, Utah Rep. John Curtis's bill that would codify President Trump's December 2017 executive order shrinking Bears Ears National Monument. On one side: the Utah Congressional delegation, Republicans on the committee, and the San Juan County Commissioners, represented by Commissioner Rebecca Benally; on the other, elected leaders from the five sovereign tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition: The Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribe.

Outside has done consistently solid reporting on all things Bears Ears and public lands. Don't let the fatalistic URL fool you: this piece takes a clear-eyed look at the opening of lands formerly within Bears Ears National Monument to resource extraction, and explains why we're unlikely to see an "1800s-style land rush" bonanza anytime soon.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert says the new plan will encourage tourists to explore scenic areas beyond the state's "Mighty Five" national parks, which thanks to a wildly successful marketing campaign are now severely overcrowded. Some Herbert critics see irony in the Governor's seeking to promote outdoor tourism.

In our first news roundup of 2018, we shared a feisty tit-for-tat from the editorial page of Monticello, Utah's San Juan Record. The above letter continues the conversation between the residents of San Juan County, Utah and the "outsiders" who love Bears Ears.

Archaeologist Bill Lipe has spent more than 50 years working in the American Southwest and is one of the foremost experts on the archaeology of the Bears Ears region. In this piece, he makes the case for preservation of the entire Bears Ears cultural landscape, not merely the best-known archaeological sites. A good read and well worth 15 minutes of your time.

These are some of the words and phrases that opposing sides have wielded as weapons against one another in the battle for the future of Bears Ears National Monument. In the weeks since President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent and reducing another controviersial Utah monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante, by nearly half, the rhetoric has reached a fever pitch.

Well, folks, it really happened. Yesterday, during a whirlwind trip to Utah, President Trump signed an Executive Order shrinking Bears Ears National Monument from 1.35 million acres to 202,000 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from 1.9 million acres to just over 1 million acres. So what happens now? Let us break it down for you.

Tiny Bluff, Utah sits on the edge of Bears Ears National Monument - and at the heart of the hotly contested debate over the monument’s future. National publicity has drawn more people to Bluff, which has branded itself as the “Proud Gateway to Bears Ears." But can the community find a way to grow to meet tourist demand while maintaining its unique character? Read on...

One of the greatest challenges of this project has been trying to explain what our work is about to those unfamiliar with the story we have been following for well over two years. In this blog, and with our books, we are trying to create that space to provide context that is missing from many news stories and to humanize what can be complex and wonky issues. With that in mind, let's take a whirlwind tour of the Bears Ears cultural and political landscape.

The red rock country of southeast Utah is distinctively dramatic, a region so striking it has become a visual shorthand for the wild majesty of the West. Its iconic scenery creates a compelling backdrop—and battleground—for one of today’s most fractious and passionate debates over the future of public lands.